This is the class blog for Eng 1102 at GA Tech called "Fiction, Human Rights, and Social Responsibility." The purpose of this blog is to extend our discussion beyond the classroom and to become aware of human rights issues that exist in the world today and how technology has played a role in either solving or aggravating them. Blogs will be a paragraph long (250 words) and students will contribute once every three weeks according to class number. Entries must be posted by Friday midnight.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Destruction

Destruction is the only result of any form
of violence. Whether it is sexual, emotional, physical or cultural violence,
materialistic destruction is caused no matter what.

One such destruction occurred in Meiktila,
Burma as a result of religious violence between the Muslims and Buddhists in
March 2013 that rocked the whole nation to its roots. Two
days of havoc resulted in 40 deaths and 61 injuries, while destroying 828
buildings. And all of this occurred merely because one group of people don’t
like the other group of people and vice versa. Anti-Islamic sentiments have
been spreading across Burma at an accelerated rate that has caused such
violence in various other cities. Even
though Burma’s constitution allows equal rights to the Muslims, Buddhists
believe want to shun complete contact with Muslims community by boycotting
them.

Now, religious riots or violence is not a
new thing. Unfortunately, it has taken place several times across the history.
Having experienced one myself (The Gujarat riots of 2002) I believe that there
is only one way to avoid such violence and that is authority. People are not
going to change all of a sudden. Buddhists will not set aside their prejudice
against the Muslims in one day. So, we cannot expect them to change on their
own and stop the violence, which requires the government to take a serious and
bold action.

This requires authority. To avoid dividing
up the nation from within its foundations the government needs to punish the
civilians responsible for violence in Meiktila and impose equal rights. They
also need to act swiftly as many times riots can be stop if the police
interfere in the initial stage.

As a child, during the Gujarat riots, I
could not understand why people were slitting each other’s throats in the name
of God. All I knew that I was horrified and sad. But, now I understand why
those men killed each other.

It is because they are complete idiots with
degenerated ideologies. My language might be harsh or might offend someone but
the truth is truth. No one in his or her sane mind can justify such violence!
And it is not easy to change such ideologies. Therefore, the only way out to a
better world and environment I authority.